


The Seeker and Finder's Shoppe

by Velobill



Category: Humbert von Gikkingen, Studio Ghibli - Fandom
Genre: Boston, Cat returns - Freeform, Other, Whisper of the Heart - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:54:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27413056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Velobill/pseuds/Velobill
Summary: I've always loved Studio Ghibli's animated movies and one of my favorite characters is the Baron Humbert von Gikkingen a cat figurine who comes to life in "The Cat Returns"  The story of the Baron as told in  the prequel (sort of) "Whispers of the Heart" is that he was separated from his true love.My fan fiction is about the Baron's lost love, the Baroness Louise von Gikkingen and a ten year old boy who is looking for a way to help his father.Enjoy and feel free to post your comments
Kudos: 4





	1. Seeker and Finder's Shoppe, Duck Boat

**Author's Note:**

> The Baron and Baroness von Gikkingen were carved from a single block of oak many years ago. They were supposed to be a special wedding gift to a young couple whose hearts were true to each other. But the two figurines were separated with only the Baron Humbert von Gikkingen picked up picked up. The Baron's counterpart, the Baroness Louise von Gikkingen wasn't ready. Before she was war came and the two human couples were separated as where the Baron and Baroness. The Baron found his way to Tama City, Tokyo where he operates the "Cat Bureau" while the Baroness found herself in a magical corner of Boston.

Sam looked through the shop’s window. It wasn’t a single piece of glass like that of a supermarket or other store you might go to when shopping. It was a bay window made from small squares fitted in a wood frame that stuck out from the brick building. His old house had a bay window in the living room made of three large glass panels which looked out onto the street and on rainy days when Sam was little his mother would carefully move her plants and allow him to sit him on the window’s sill so he could watch cars. The new condo where Sam moved to with his parents didn’t have a bay window. But, this story isn’t about windows. It is about ten-year old Sam and it is because of Sam’s father I have it to tell.   
Sam had to stand on his toes to get a good look into the shop. Even though it was dark inside he easily saw the statuette on the window sill. It was about a foot and a half tall posed on pedestal decorated with a colored cut glass. Next to the statuette, there was a radiometer. A radiometer looks like a light bulb, except it has little black and white vanes inside which spin about when you put it in sunlight. There was also a kaleidoscope, a tube you look through and turn to see moving colors and shapes, as well as an old wood pencil box covered with stickers. Sam wasn’t interested in the pencil box or the kaleidoscope or the radiometer. Sam’s eyes were drawn to the figurine which was a cat with white fur. But, unlike a real cat, the figure stood upright as if it was a person dressed in a long bright red old fashioned ruffled dress that reached down to the top of the pedestal. The dress had a frilly white collar and there was a golden locket around the cat’s neck. She held a bouquet of tiny white flowers in white gloved hands and a violet colored broad brim hat decorated with a white blossom was set between her ears. The little cat person had long white whiskers and bubble gum pink nose which matched the insides of her ears. Sam thought she winked at him with one of her sparkling green eyes. But, that was impossible, her eyes were glass. Her whiskers were made of wire and the rest of her; the locket, the necklace, the frilly collar, the ruffled dress, her fur and even the flowers she held was a painted sculpture.   
Sam pushed open the shop’s wood framed door of dozen glass panes which was under a hanging white sign with black lettering that read, ‘Seeker and Finder’s Shoppe’. He was accompanied by the jingling of bells as he stepped inside. The shop was a small about the same size as the neighborhood barbershop he used to get his haircuts from with his father. But, instead of two sinks and two chairs, there were tables in the middle of the room and the walls were lined with counters and shelves. All kinds of stuff had been piled high on the tables and counters as well as jammed into the shelves in a disorganized, organized way. It was the kind of stuff you would expect to find in a thrift store or antique shop. There were books and trinkets; toys and pails full of pens, jars of change, baskets of hair and tie clips, and cuff links. By the way, cufflinks are buttons with snaps on the back for long sleeve shirts that don’t have buttons already sewn on them.   
One wall had hundreds of keys hanging from hooks. There were ties, scarfs, mittens, gloves and shoes. Not just pairs but single mittens, gloves and shoes and there were socks, lots of socks. Sam started towards the cat figurine. But his attention was caught by a large teddy bear sitting on a counter by itself. The stuffed bear was old. It looked as it had been flattened by a thousand hugs. Its brown cloth fur had been worn smooth in spots and there were places where threads were showing. The bear’s head hung to one side and it was missing a button eye. It wore a partly undone dark red bow tie with golden polka dots around its neck. Sam reached over to pick the bear and woke up.   
“SAM!” This is your last warning. You gotta get ready, we have to go.”   
Sam shuddered. Not from his mother’s shouts coming from the hall outside his door, he shuddered from his dream, a dream that was so real he looked about to see if the teddy bear was sitting on his bureau. Every detail about the dream, the bear, the cat, the radiometer, the kaleidoscope, the pencil box, the sign and store window stuck out as if he had just left the shop. Sam often had realistic colorful dreams. He especially loved his flying dreams, although the falling ones startled him awake. When Sam was little, he was so terrified by nightmares he’d wake up screaming. His parents always sat on the end of his bed until he fell back to sleep. They patiently told him dreams weren’t real and they explained ever since he could remember how dreams were a way for his brain to store all the things he saw and thought about during the day.   
“Our dreams are symbols, they stand for the things that bother us,” reassured his father after he told his parents of a horrific nightmare where he was chased by slimy monsters with octopus tentacles who killed and ate his friends.   
“Dreaming of death can be a way our minds tell us we are going through changes,” added his mother. It was Sam’s mother taking a new job that caused Sam and his family to move from his old home in Portland Oregon to a small New Jersey town.   
“Like going moving here and going to a new school?”   
“That’s right. We’ve gone through a lot of changes the last few months and leaving your friends is a biggie” his father replied smiling in the way parents often do. But, Sam’s father’s smile was heavy, just days before they moved, Sam’s grandfather passed away.   
What his parents didn’t tell him was how he could have the same dream twice. The dream about the shop, the cat person figurine and the teddy bear was the same dream as the one he told his mother about after the day his father left to visit Sam’s grandmother.   
“Sam, do you think you had the dream because you are nervous about your father going to Boston without us?”  
“I don’t think I’m nervous.”  
“Sometimes we are and we don’t know it. It’s ok to be nervous. You know how I get nervous about driving.”   
“Oh yes, you say ‘Sam please be quiet I have to concentrate’.”   
Sam’s mother smiled with a chuckle.  
“That’s right. Now do you remember how when you lost your pencil box with your drawing pencils it took you days to tell us?”   
“Yes. But, that was when I was in my old school.”  
“Weren’t you afraid we’d be mad because it was the box your father had when he was a boy?”  
“I was scared, I thought you and dad would be angry and… I was nervous.”  
“What happened after you told us?”  
“I was glad you weren’t mad at me.”  
“And when you found your pencil box? How did you feel?   
“Great”   
“Now, what do you think about your ‘Finder Keeper’s’ dream?”   
“I…I think it’s a place for things that are missing and I miss dad” Sam replied not wanting to correct his mother about the shop’s name, “but, what about the cat and bear?”   
“Hmmm…well, you said you went to the teddy bear and not the cat. Why do you think you did that in your dream?”  
Sam thought for moment.   
“I’m allergic to cats. But, I’m not allergic to teddy bears.”   
That conversation happened the day before and when Sam came down stairs to have his breakfast, he wanted to tell his mother he had the same dream. But, Sam’s mother was too busy getting ready for their trip to Boston and he decided he had the dream because he was scared about his father. Sam’s parents planned to visit Sam’s grandmother as a family for the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend. It would have been Sam’s first visit to his father’s childhood home since he was a baby. Then earlier in the week his father announced he had to see his mother to help her with a few things. Sam offered to be his company for the drive from New Jersey to Boston. He told his parents he could miss a few days at his new school because he was so far ahead of the other kids in his class. Sam’s parents held him back one year when they moved and he was well ahead of his grade level. Sam was bright and liked school. But because he was born late in the year, he was the smallest boy or girl in his old class. But, his argument why he could go, didn’t work and he was told he would have stay home with his mother. Then Sam’s mother got a phone call during supper on the night Sam had his second dream about the cat and teddy bear. Sam’s father had a stroke and was in the hospital.   
The morning was a blur. Sam and his mother rushed about gathering things they needed for their trip. The ride share arrived on time and took them to the airport. Sam and his mother flew to Boston and when they arrived, Sam’s mother rented a car at Logan Airport and they started the drive to his grandmother’s house in Brookline Village. Brookline is a small Massachusetts town so close to Boston you can’t tell were Boston ends and Brookline begins and Brookline Village is a small section of Brookline with little stores, houses and apartments.   
Now, I don’t know if you have ever been to Boston. I have and I can tell you even though Boston has tall modern buildings, a subway, an airport and a highway that goes under the bay and another highway that goes under its center, Boson is one of America’s oldest cities with lots of twisty narrow one way streets. There is always construction someplace, roads are torn up and traffic gets detoured. That is what happened to Sam and his mother.   
The travel app on Sam’s mother’s phone said the drive from Logan to Brookline Village was less than a half hour with the traffic. But, instead of heading west, his mother missed an exit and they ended up driving to South Boston. Even from the back seat Sam could tell his mother was nervous and as they drove under Boston Harbor. She gripped the wheel in the way people do when they are new drivers and she turned off the rental’s radio so she could hear the phone’s directions better. Sam wanted to make her laugh or smile and he remarked how the tunnel’s yellowish ceramic tiles reminded him of the toilets in his new school. Even though she smiled back at him in the rearview mirror, her expression was full of care.   
Just after they left the tunnel, the phone announced there was an accident ahead and gave her an exit to take. I remember the first time I followed a direction finder’s instructions. I was driving in a place I had never been before and the device’s voice told me to make a “legal ‘U’ turn”. Sam’s mother didn’t have to make a ‘U’ turn. But, they ended up driving in the opposite direction they wanted to go. Instead of going west towards Brookline, they drove into north Boston along the waterfront.   
“There’s the aquarium Sam,” Sam’s mother announced loudly so he could hear her over his tablet’s headphones, “do you remember going with your father and me? When he’s well, we’ll come back. I’m sure you’ll love it”. Sam gazed at the large “IMAX” sign on the aquarium’s sleek metal paneled walls. He didn’t remember being there before and asked her about the trip. Sam’s mother recounted how he cooed excitedly and reached for fish from his stroller as she pushed him through the glass tunnel inside the aquarium’s giant ocean tank and how he seemed fascinated by the octopi. In case you think I made up the word, octopi is plural for octopus.   
There were more detour signs and instead of finding their way back to the highway, they drove down narrow one way streets.   
“Mom, that’s the Old North Church,” Sam announced as they drove down a street lined with a row of three and four story apartment buildings. Across from them on his mother’s side of the car there was a brick church with white wood bell tower which Sam could not see the top of from his side of the car even though he leaned over as far as he could without taking off his seatbelt.   
“I read about Paul Revere’s ride. Did you know he never arrived at Lexington and stopped by the British. Do you it is true he had lanterns hung from the churches steeple? How do you think anyone could see them with all the buildings around it?” Sam knew there were no tall buildings or skyscrapers back in Paul Revere’s time. But he wanted his mother to smile again.   
“Oh great, we’ve gone around in a loop. Sam, please be quiet. I have to concentrate.”  
“Yes Mom.”  
She kept on taking the turns the phone called out and they soon ended up driving beneath towering buildings on busy streets full of slow moving cars, buses and trucks. While Sam was distracted by the sights, his mother clutched the steering wheel looking for pedestrians, bicycle riders and fast moving electric scooters. The streets were lined with shops, banks, restaurants and offices and people were everywhere. Packs of tourists ambled along the sidewalks or were stopped as they took ‘selfies’. Some people hurried along in quick strides as if they were late going someplace. There were families, parents with children, couples and lots of college students, including one girl Sam saw carrying a musical instrument case that was almost as big as she was.   
“That’s a Double Bass” replied Sam’s mother to his question, “it is the largest of the string instruments.” Sam’s mother played French horn in college and she taught music until she became an assistant principal. It was as I may have already mentioned Sam’s mother accepting a school principal’s position which brought Sam and his family from their quiet Portland neighborhood to a quieter New Jersey town. Sam’s father was a writer, who is often published in magazines and has a popular internet following. He worked from home when he wasn’t on assignment someplace.   
Sam was excited by the adventure of his trip even though he was worried about his father. A friend once told me, an adventure is adversity fondly remembered. But, I am sure Sam’s mother would not agree with that definition as she was forced by more detours to turn up one one-way street full of traffic and down another accompanied by the insistent voice of her phone saying she had to go in a different direction. To help his mother, Sam kept a lookout for signs to the highway.   
He saw one on the colorful tree lined boulevard that separated the ‘Boston Common’ on their right from the ‘Boston Public Garden’. It was as they followed a ‘Duck Boat’. Duck Boats look like a big boats on wheels where people sit up on top in the open. Because the day was a particularly warm early fall one, it was full of tourists enjoying the sights. Sam wished he too could be on it, sitting between his mother and father. Then when they stopped at a crosswalk behind the strange vehicle and waited for the signal to change, Sam saw a long low boat full of tourists and a huge swan figure at its back end.   
“What kind of boat is that?” Sam asked.   
“That is a swan boat. When you were little, your father and I took you on one. We can come back after your father is better. The “Make Way for Ducklings” statutes are nearby too, do you remember them?”   
Sam didn’t recall the bronze statutes of the mother duck and her babies even though he remembered the book about the duck family who waddled down Boston streets with police officers stopping traffic for them. When his mother asked whether he’d like to see them again too, Sam agreed even though he was too old for swans and ducks. At the end of the boulevard was a sign which pointed left to the highway. But their route was blocked by orange cones and they turned right.   
“Oh great, we’re doing another loop.” Sam’s mother exclaimed, “At this rate, we won’t get to Gran’s until dark and I was hoping to take you to see your father today.”  
“You can still take me.”  
“I don’t know. The hospital’s visiting hours are strict. But we’ll see. I have to call your father’s doctor when we get to Gran’s to let them know we are here.”   
Sam and his mother continued to follow the Duck Boat past the ‘Common’ on one side and a row of tidy four story townhouses on the other until they passed a large brick building with tall white columns and a gold dome which Sam’s mother said was the “State House”. The phone instructed Sam’s mother to take a left. But, a stern looking policeman directed her straight and they slowly went down a one way street crowded with parked delivery vans on each side following a pack of riders on matching bright green bicycles. At the next corner they turned right as instructed and headed back towards the ‘Common’ towards a shady ancient looking cemetery next to a large brick church with towering wood steeple. But, once again their route was blocked. This time it was a tractor trailer truck with the biggest wrecker Sam had ever seen and instead of a policeman, they were waved down a very narrow one way side street by a woman in an orange vest.   
They drove in shadow, the sun was blocked by tall buildings on either side and it was as if they were at the bottom of a narrow canyon. Their way was constricted by parked delivery vans and dumpsters. By the way constricted is another way of saying something is made narrower.   
They were just about to turn left when Sam saw the sign. It wasn’t quite a sign. It was a white arrow someone painted on the wall of an alley which had bold black letters that spelled out ‘Seeker and Finder’s Shoppe’.


	2. Park Street

Sam was welcomed by his grandmother’s hugs and a dining room table topped by plates of scrumptious food. A retired professor she moved to Boston from Alabama when she was a little girl and like her mother before her, Sam’s grandmother saw good cooking as one way of showing love. Sam didn’t particularly care for the collards. He didn’t like green food. But, the squash topped by melting butter, baked macaroni, honey drizzled biscuits and thick sliced ham set before him was a welcome treat after their journey. He especially welcomed the delicious mug of hot chocolate. Sam’s grandmother knew he loved hot chocolate.  
As they ate, Sam’s mother and grandmother avoided talking about Sam’s father. Instead Sam was peppered by his ‘Gran’s’ questions about his new school and friends. You might ask whether Sam told his mother and grandmother about seeing the sign. He didn’t. He was afraid they wouldn’t believe him.  
The last time Sam saw his grandmother was in the summer just before he moved. She and his grandfather had been traveling ‘out West’ and stopped at Sam’s house. Sadly it was the last time Sam saw his grandfather before he passed away, or as his grandmother said “went home”. When Sam finished eating he remembered his manners and excused himself from the table. It only took a brief glance from his mother for him to ask if he could help clean up. His grandmother thanked him for the offer and instead suggested he play games on his tablet in the living room giving him her ‘Wi-Fi’ password when he asked.  
Sam didn’t wear his headphones as sat on his grandmother’s couch fighting dragons and ogres. He turned the volume down as well so he could hear his mother and grandmother talk as they cleaned up from the meal in the dining room.  
“We have to be thankful he was here when it happened, not driving or alone someplace. The ambulance came right away and Mass General is one of the best hospitals in the country for treating stroke. Besides we have good genes.”  
“He always says that when he wears his jeans.” Sam’s mother replied with a soft chuckle.  
“His doctor can’t say what his chances are,” she added after a long pause.  
“Doctors always hedge their bets. But he’s in good hands. The Lord is looking after him and he has you, Sam, me and his sisters along with the doctors.”  
“You’re right. But… he’s so young…” his mother began to sob.  
I am sure if you heard your mother cry when you were Sam’s age, you would have cried too. That is what Sam did and when his mother and grandmother heard him they came into the living room to sit on the couch with him. Nestled between the reassuring two adults Sam dozed off.  
“Sam, the doctor said we can visit your father tonight,” Sam’s mother said waking him up.  
“Is he better?’  
“He’s…not awake. He’s what the doctors’ call, stable.” Sam’s mother paused as Sam looked expectantly at her and then added ‘stable’ meant Sam’s father’s pulse, blood pressure were normal and haven’t changed.  
“Is he better?”  
“I don’t know. But, they took him off the Vent and he’s breathing on his own.”  
“What’s a Vent?”  
“It’s a machine that helps people breath. Now go wash up, we are getting a ride share and put on your sweatshirt too, it’s gotten a bit chilly.”  
It was dark when the ride share’s driver drove into a courtyard of tall buildings and dropped off Sam, his mother and grandmother under a glass awning. They were met by a tall security guard in a grey uniform and reflective vest who showed them how to get to the revolving door for the visitor’s entrance.  
It was Sam’s first time visiting a hospital. If you have ever been in a hospital, you can imagine what Sam saw and how he may have felt. After they stopped at the lobby’s reception desk, Sam walked down a wide broad brightly lit corridor with shiny floor between his mother and grandmother. They went past a small gift shop lined with shelves of cards and gifts and bouquets of swaying bright silvery balloons on strings as well as an open door where Sam peaked into a dark room with a glowing stained glass wall. Even though they followed signs to the elevators, Sam’s grandmother knew the way. Over the years she had been to the same hospital and she had accompanied Sam’s father when he was brought in and knew what floor he was on.  
There were lots of other people in the corridor. Some were other visitors, some were employees, men and women in long white coats with stethoscopes around their necks or wearing pastel colored pajamas, his mother said were ‘scrubs’. There were a few wearing grey overalls and a few people in wheelchairs who were being pushed in the opposite direction as the way Sam was going. When Sam’s grandmother told him it was a hospital rule for patients who were going home to be taken to their ride in a wheelchair, Sam announced he would push his father when it was time for him to leave. Sam also noticed how some of the people stared at him. One of them, a girl who looked as if she wasn’t much older than he was, stopped and shook her head before walking on with her nose in the air. Sam nervously checked to make sure his fly wasn’t open. It wasn’t.  
The elevator they were in rose so quickly Sam felt his stomach drop and he braced himself by gripping a rail on its back wall. Sam, his mother and grandmother were accompanied by a young man with scraggly beard and black square skull cap embroidered with an intricate gold design who beamed as if someone put a spotlight on his face.  
“I have a daughter” he proudly exclaimed clutching a bouquet of white flowers close to his chest.  
“Oh that’s wonderful and those flowers are beautiful,” said Sam’s grandmother, “Camellia’s are just the thing for showing love and affection.”  
“I didn’t know what they were when I bought them,” he replied, “but, they look pretty.” The elevator came to a sudden stop at his floor and its door slid open.  
“Don’t forget young man, so far it’s been the baby’s mamma who did all of the work. Now it’s time for you to do your part.” Sam’s grandmother advised the new parent as he stepped into the corridor and disappeared. The door slid close and once again the elevator whooshed upwards several more floors. When the elevator door opened again, Sam, his mother and grandmother walked into a different world.  
The strong scent of cleaner made Sam wrinkle his nose. He, his mother and grandmother followed a brightly lit white hallway, lined with light brown wooden doors all of which were numbered and had plastic clipboards. A few of the doors were closed. But, most were open and inside Sam saw dimly lit rooms where people stood around beds or other rooms where lone patients watched the blue glow of a hushed wall mounted television from angled beds. Despite the corridor being wide enough for Sam to walk between his mother and grandmother, it was constricted by all kinds of equipment. There were narrow beds on wheels and giant wheeled laundry baskets and small wheeled tables piled high with sheets. There were monitors and other mysterious devices on carts as well as fluid filled plastic bags with tubes on poles. Young women and men in light blue scrubs pushed computers about on stands and except for the other visitors, everyone bustled about in white sport shoes or white foam clogs. You would expect the floor Sam was on to be noisy. It wasn’t. Everyone spoke in soft voices and loudest sounds Sam heard were steady mechanical beeps that came from people’s rooms. It was warm. But, Sam felt cold despite his hoodie and he gripped his mother’s hand for support. As he did, she tightened her hand around his.  
His father’s room was stuffy and dark. The window blinds were drawn, the lights were low, and TV was off. Sam’s father was a bed next to the window where a radiator hummed. The bed hissed as the mattress adjusted itself. Next to the bed on a pole was a bag of clear fluid that dripped into a thin tube which flowed into a machine before it passed into another tube that was taped on one end to the inside of his father’s elbow where a needle was inserted. Sam’s father was under white sheets, except for his bare arms, his head was propped up with white pillows, his face covered by a mask attached to a tube which itself was attached to a wall fitting behind the bed. Wires were taped to his forehead with white pads and they snaked to a pole mounted machine where there was a monitor that displayed a series of animated numbers.  
The man who taught Sam how to throw a ball and ride a bike, who took him on hikes and helped him build his cub scout derby car from a block of pine, who taught him how to use a handsaw and paint brush, who laughed and joked and played games with him on their game console and even showed him a cheat code when Sam couldn’t get past a level in one of his games now laid silently still in the bed looking small and dark.  
At the end of the bed were a pair of chairs and even though Sam’s mother suggested he sit down, Sam stood at the bedside with her and his grandmother. As they spoke quietly to each other, Sam stroked his father’s hand mumbling “I love you daddy, please get well” over and over ignoring the strong odor of urine, coming from a wide clear tube that looped from under the sheets into a bag half filled with yellow fluid attached to the bed’s frame.  
The doctor appeared. Sam thought she seemed too young. His doctor before they moved was elderly, probably older than fifty and the doctor he saw for his school exam after they moved wasn’t a doctor at all but an “APRN”. Still, the label on her jacket and her stethoscope was authority enough for Sam’s mother and grandmother. She seemed friendly and serious at the same time and spoke with an accent Sam found to be like his friend from Columbia.  
“I’m glad you could come by tonight. He seems more comfortable, now that we took him off the vent.” The doctor was hesitant as if she wanted to say more except Sam was present.  
“I’m glad you called. We would have been here sooner. But, we were held up.”  
“I think it is better you arrived when you did. It can be a shock seeing someone you love on a Vent.”  
Sam wanted to listen to the doctor. But, he couldn’t. He was too busy trying to hold back his tears and wasn’t successful. Sam’s eyes filled and his lips shook. He turned away and his grandmother took him to a nearby waiting room.  
“Gran, I want to stay. But, I can’t stop crying. I’m just a baby.”  
“No Sam, you are blessed you can cry. We all want cry.” She replied as she sat down next to him on a long low couch and blotted his tears with a tissue from her bag. For a long time they said nothing. Then a parent with two young children, children younger than Sam that is, entered the waiting room. The parent turned on the TV and walked out, leaving the two to tussle for a picture book from a pile of books and magazines on a table.  
Sam had no interest in the TV or any of the books or even his tablet which he brought with him. Instead he stood up and went to the window. He stared into a blackness interrupted by pixels and pools of light. Buildings, street lights and cars crisscrossing a bridge over the Charles River seemed to be as far from him as the stars that hid behind overcast clouds. Sam’s grandmother told him she would take him back to her house and even though Sam was afraid he would never see his father again, he didn’t object. They left the hospital after Sam said goodbye to his mother and stroked his father’s hand. But, instead of calling for a ride share or grabbing a cab, they crossed the street to a nearby “T” station. The “T” is what Bostonians; people who live in Boston call their transit system. Transit is just another word for transportation and Boston has a rail system that runs above and below ground. The “T” station closest to the hospital was aboveground with glass walls and about as high as a two or three story building. As soon as they entered the busy station, Sam’s grandmother took him to a row of vending machines.  
“Sam do you have a phone in case we get separated?” she asked.  
“No Gran, mom and dad said I had to wait until I was twelve.”  
“Ok then, stay close. Let’s get you a ‘Charlie Card.’”  
Sam’s grandmother slipped a twenty dollar bill into a slot in one of the vending machines and gave him the card when it came out. The ‘Charlie Card’ or as it is more officially known as a 'CharlieTicket' is a stiff rectangle of paper the size of a credit card. Like them it has a magnetized strip on the back and on the front there a bright orange arrow with tiny instructions. Sam’s grandmother explained how the card was used to open barriers to the train’s loading platforms and she added it was good for a couple trips.  
The clock above the stairs read just past seven o’clock as Sam followed his grandmother up to the platform and waited for the next train with other passengers in front of an immense electronic poster that alternated between advertisements for shoes and latest ‘Blockbuster’ adventure movie.  
“We are now on the Red Line and we have to get off at Park Street Station. Then we’ll go upstairs and take the Riverside Green Line train to my stop at Brookline Village.”  
“I think we on Park Street when we were going to your house, where’s the station?”  
“Yes, your mom said you were a bit lost because of some accidents and road work. The station is on the east side of the Common, not far from the State House. Next time you visit …” She noticed the change in Sam’s expression and looking into his brown eyes, knelt down and placed his hand in hers.  
“Sam your dad is strong. No matter what happens remember, we are all loved by the Lord and it is love which gives us strength especially when we need it. Oh here comes our train.”  
The silver car with its long red stripe slowly screeched to a stop on steel wheels. Its doors opened and once the passengers who had been lined up inside left Sam followed his grandmother aboard. The car wasn’t crowded and easily found seats next to each other near the door. Within a few minutes the train was once again underway and it soon dropped below ground.  
“Next Stop Park Street Station, next Stop Park Street Station” a hidden voice repeated.  
In the seat facing Sam and his grandmother sat a young man with beard. His eyes were closed and he seemed absorbed in his headphones. Suddenly the train lurched and the man opened his eyes. He gave Sam a puzzled look and closed them again.  
The ride was quick and they soon got off at Park Street Station with other passengers. The platform with its red painted pillars was dingy, cavernous and noisy. Sam’s grandmother did not need to read the directions that hung from the ceiling as they went up the flight of stairs to the ‘Green Line’. Sam as observant as a ten-year could be took in everything and I’m sure that you like Sam would find being in the station exciting. The platform looked a lot like the one below it except the pillars were trimmed in green. Sam with his grandmother quickly joined the other passengers to wait few steps back from the platform’s yellow edge.  
“We want the Riverside train” Sam’s grandmother said as she pointed out how the electronic marques announced when the next train was arriving and its destination.  
“That will be in three minutes” replied Sam reading from the sign.  
To pass the time, he leaned forward and peered down the tracks into the pencil lead black tunnel looking for the lights of their train.  
“This is the first time I’ve been on the subway. I used to ride the Portland trolley and the Max with mom and dad. But, they don’t go underground.” Sam said breathlessly. He found himself enjoying the adventure of waiting for a train being on a crowded platform. As they waited more people arrived Some of the people stood with Sam and his grandmother while others lined up along the dimpled yellow line that separated the platform from the drop to tracks. There was even a girl near the platform’s far wall playing a violin. It was then Sam saw how a couple teenagers glared at him as they walked by. Sam tugged his grandmother’s arm and whispered.  
“Gran, why did those kids look at me that way?” he asked, “People have been giving me funny looks or staring at me all night. There was a man on the train and in the hospital a girl gave me a dirty look.”  
“Sam, you are wearing a ‘Blazer’s’ hoodie and you are in ‘Celtics’ country,” she replied referring to the black hooded sweater with white bold letters Sam wore. “But, that can be fixed. In the closet of your father’s room, there’s a Celtic’s sweater he wore when he was younger. I know he will want you to have it.”  
The rumbling train arrived with squealing wheels. Its four silver green trimmed cars were shorter than the cars for the Redline train and they were also already very crowded. But Sam’s grandmother knew where to stand to wait for to stop and when it did they were in front of the doors for the second car. After waiting passenger’s got off, Sam and his mother climbed aboard and found a couple front facing seats, Sam took the one near a window. A quick shudder and the train was soon on its way rolling through a black tunnel broken only by clusters of lights. Sam immediately notice and watched how when the train took corners the floor of the car he was on pivoted where it was joined to the next car.  
They soon emerged from the tunnel and rode between businesses, houses and traffic on nearby streets. When the train stopped at the “Fenway” station Sam eagerly told his grandmother.  
“My father loves the Sox. After we moved to New Jersey, he took me to Yankee Stadium so we could watch them and we are going to see them….” Sam stopped, his ride’s adventure ended.  
“Your dad will take you to see them at Fenway. He will get better. I know you and your mom will make sure of that.”  
“Yes gran we will.”  
The train made several more stops before it arrived at Brookline Village where they disembarked. Disembark is another word for getting off and it was a short walk to the house where Sam’s father grew up with his sisters.  
Sam’s grandmother and Sam didn’t know when his mother was going to return from hospital and they decided to order pizza, a medium with Sam’s favorite toppings for him and his mother and a small one with anchovies for Sam’s grandmother. Once the order was placed Sam’s grandmother took him upstairs to his father’s old room. While he helped her to change the sheets on the twin bed with wagon wheel shaped head and footboard she told him it was the same bed his father slept in.  
It was on the way back downstairs that Sam noticed the collection of framed pictures on the stairway wall. One of them was divided into three smaller photographs. They were photos of Sam’s father and his two older sisters all taken when each was a toddler. One sister was sitting on a child sized rocking chair next to a stuffed duck. The other looked up from a high chair, her face smeared with birthday cake and the one of Sam’s father was taken as he beamed up at the camera with a joyous grin while gripping a giant new teddy bear that was taller than he was. Around the bear’s neck was a dark red bow tie with golden-polka dots.  
“Gran, I’ve seen this bear before, in my dreams” He explained excitedly and told how he dreamt twice about seeing the bear in a place called the “Seeker and Finder’s Shoppe”.  
“And when we got lost I saw an arrow pointing to the ‘Seeker and Finder’s Shoppe’ and now this picture of my father and he’s holding the bear in my dreams.”  
“That picture of your dad and his bear has been on that wall since long before you were born. I’m sure you saw it when you were here as a baby and thought about it in your dream even though you don’t remember seeing it.”  
“That’s what my mother and father would say. But what about the sign, how could I dreamt that?”  
“I don’t know. Maybe you misread it. I don’t know. I wish I did. I wish dreams were real, I wish there was magic.” Sam nodded and did not disagree with his grandmother. After all would you?  
“What happened to the bear?”  
“I don’t know, I haven’t seen it in many years. It probably got tossed out when your dad went to school. Things like that can happen when we get older.”  
Sam was sitting on the living room couch playing his game when the pizza arrived and he joined his grandmother at the kitchen table. Despite never having anchovies before, Sam decided he would try the fish topped pizza and play his game or watch TV before going to bed or trying the old video game console he saw in his father’s room after he finished eating. But his plans were interrupted when his grandmother’s cellphone buzzed. The caller was Sam’s mother who said she had to spend the night in the hospital. Sam’s grandmother gave the phone to Sam and after he spoke to his mother he lost his appetite and went to his father’s room, where he laid down and cried himself to sleep.


	3. Alley

Sam opened his eyes, and looked about the unfamiliar room where stacks of books on bookshelves competed with assembled ‘LEGO’ sets. On one wall was a poster of Albert Einstein and on the other a poster for the movie “Do The Right Thing”. In a corner of the room sitting on a wheeled stand was an old boxy television, the kind of TV with a cathode ray tube. You may have to look up what a cathode ray tube television is since even your parents may not know what TVs looked like before there were flat screens.   
Sam lowered his head back down into the bed’s soft pillow. The warm quilt he slept under included a hot spot from the square of late morning beaming through one of the room’s gabled windows. Except for the sound of traffic outside, it was quiet. Sam looked at the alarm clock on the bureau across room. It was a mechanical clock with numerals that flipped and they read eleven fifteen. Sam sat up wondering why his mother or grandmother didn’t call for him for breakfast. He got up, fixed up the bed, used the small bathroom that adjoined his father’s room and changed into his spare clothes.   
Same went downstairs and when he looked into the living there was a teenage girl spread out on the couch. It was his cousin Missy. Even though they never met in person, he recognized her from Christmas cards his aunt sent.   
“Hey tween, breakfast is in the kitchen, my mom brought doughnuts and there’s juice and milk,” she said without looking away from the game she was playing.   
“If you want anything else, you make it yourself, I’m no baby sitter.”  
Before we go on, let me share a few things Sam didn’t know about his cousin. Missy was fourteen and I heard that being fourteen is hard. Missy was also the youngest in her family. Her brothers, and she had three of them were much older. Missy’s mother and father divorced when she was little and I must say she’s a bit spoiled. I don’t mean to be harsh. But, Missy was used to getting her own way anytime she wanted it. As it was she brought her own gaming system and as soon as their grandmother and Sam’s aunt left for the hospital, she plugged into the living room TV and played while chatting on her phone with friends.   
“Yeah, I’m here at my grandma’s watching my little cousin…” she said ignoring Sam as he went into the kitchen. An opened box of fried dough confections waited for him on the table and despite the glazed and powdered sugar coatings and chocolate topping. Sam did not feel hungry or thirsty.   
“Did gran say when she was coming back with my mother?”   
“Nope.”  
“Do you know how long they will be gone?”  
“Nope and no I don’t know how your father is either. Mom said they will call me. So if I was you, I’d do something to keep busy. Just do it upstairs and don’t bug me.”   
Sam returned to his father’s room. He sat on the bed and looked about. There were all kinds of books normally been interested in looking at and he was interested in trying the old game system, one that used cartridges and he had his tablet. But, Sam didn’t feel like playing or watching anything on the old TV. He sat on the bed and thought about his father, wishing he wasn’t in the that hospital bed with all those tubes and wires. He wish his father was sitting with him playing video games with him. Sam wanted to call his mother. He wanted her come back and hold him and say everything was going to be all right.   
There was in the room a persistent sound of a tiny motor coming from one of the bedroom windows. Sam turned and saw a radiometer on the sill its vanes spinning like the dreidel he played with a friend from his old school.   
Dreams aren’t true, that’s what Sam’s father, mother, and his grandmother told him. But what if they were true? The radiometer was in his dreams. The Teddy Bear in the picture was in his dreams and he saw a sign for the “Seeker and Finder’s Shoppe”.   
Sam went down stairs and quietly removed the pictures of his father and his father’s sisters from the wall. He took the frame to his father’s room and after a few moments removed its back. He took out the small picture of his father and the bear. Using his tablet, Sam found the schedule for the “T”. He realized his plan was possible. Trains stopped at the stopped at the station near his grandmother’s neighborhood every few minutes and it would take him less than a half hour to arrive at Park Street Station. Sam would use his “Charlie Card”. He take the train to Park Street Station. He would walk to the shop and get the bear. He had two twenties and a five and a few ones in the wallet his father gave him. That would be more than enough and once he had the teddy bear he would take the train to the hospital and bring it to his father. Sam was certain once his father saw the bear he would recover.   
It was when Sam started to put on his hoodie he remembered how everyone looked at him. He opened his father’s closet and looked about. There wasn’t much in it, a few small boxes with labels on a shelf and some coats on wood hangers all covered in dry cleaner bags. One of the coats was a red zip jacket with blue trim and Brookline Warriors embroidered over the chest along with his father’s first name. There were a couple blazers and a suit and a grey hooded sweatshirt with a green leprechaun spinning a basketball on one finger. Sam slipped it over his head. Even though the Celtics hoodie was a bit too big with baggy sleeves and low hem it would not attract as much attention as a one with “Blazers” proudly printed on it. Sam slid the picture into the sweatshirt’s front hand warmer pocket, slipped on his shoes without tying the laces and went down stairs returning the frame to its place on the wall as he did. Missy was still on the coach too absorbed with her game and conversation to hear him or see him leave through the kitchen.   
Sam practically ran to the station, retracing the route he walked with his grandmother the night before. The distance was a bit farther than Sam remembered and he was breathing hard by the time he left the neighborhood of tidy houses and came to one of brick apartment buildings. The apartment buildings gave way to a small bustling shopping district of hair dressers, barbershops, eateries, antique and other stores. He was walking much slower by the time he saw the sign for the ‘T’. Excited being near the station and not wanting to wait for a later train if he could avoid it, Sam trotted along the tree lined street past a yellow brick apartment buildings with an assortment of businesses on one side and the train tracks on the other. He soon reached the station and following a pair of women, used his Charlie Card to go through the and across the tracks to a covered platform where a sign read ‘Green Line, Inbound Train Stop to Lechmere via Park’. Along with the women, the other passengers were college students and an elderly man sitting by himself. Sam was glad that no one stared or even paid attention to him as they waited for the train and when it arrived, Sam got on first. But because the car was almost full he had to stand holding onto a pole to keep steady as the train rumbled towards Boston.   
They rolled past tidy neighborhoods of houses, apartments and stores. More people got on at the next station and by the time they reached Fenway homes and businesses had been replaced by the Boston’s tall buildings. The train went underground, and Kenmore was a subway stop as well as Hynes. The train was still too crowded for Sam to sit and gripped the pole tightly excited the first leg of his trip was almost over and he would soon be heading to the hospital with the bear. When the doors opened for Park Street Station, Sam was the first person out and he weaved around the other passengers. He ran past a cop and ignoring her order to slow down as he passed through the gate and up the steps to the street. Sam gasped as he passed through the glass doors of the low granite building which was the entrance to Park Street Station. Right in front of him, across the street, was the brick church with the tall steeple that he saw with his mother and next to the church was the cemetery. It would be short walk to the street and alley where he saw the sign that pointed to the “Seeker and Finder’s Shoppe.”   
Sam was hungry and even though he could not tell time from the hands of the clock on the church’s steeple which read one fifteen, he knew it was after lunch. But, he didn’t want to spend money he might need to buy the bear and he joined the crowd who waited for the light to change.   
He dashed across and almost knocked over a college girl using crutches who swore loudly at him. After the close call Sam went from running to walking quickly. He passed the shady cemetery’s low granite wall topped by a wrought iron fence and recognized the dark green front of a restaurant across the street next to the narrow street his mother drove down the day before. Sam crossed and walked down the street towards the alley. It wasn’t a dream, the arrow was where he saw it, and it clearly said, “Seeker and Finder’s Shoppe”. He stopped at the entrance and looked down the narrow and dark space. It was dirty, the ground was greasy and wet where it wasn’t covered by paper and cardboard scraps. The air seemed still and it stank of garbage. Dumpsters and trashcans, some overflowing with garbage made the narrow path even more constricted and I don’t mind telling you I would not have gone down that alley. But, I’m not Sam.   
Sam took a deep breath and slowly walked down the chasm like passage. He walked past service doors to stores and restaurants. He passed more dumpsters, more trash cans and piles of cardboard boxes. The noise of street traffic faded behind him leaving only the sound of footsteps and movement rustling in the trash.   
“Rats!” Sam was terrified of rats. Sometimes we are afraid of things that we don’t need to be afraid of. For me it’s sharks, when I was young I saw a movie about a giant shark. For Sam it was rats. Even though the big sister of one of his friends from his old school had a tame white rat which sat on people’s shoulders and ate nuts, Sam would not touch it or even go near it. Thankfully for Sam what ever made the noise did not show itself and he continued deeper into the alley until he suddenly he came upon an old man with matted grey hair sitting on a piece of cardboard with his head between his knees as if he was sleeping or praying or dead. The man’s clothes were dirty and stiff looking as if he wore them every day without taking them off.   
Sam crept closer and paused. The man did not move. Tip toeing and stepping around pieces of scrap that would have made any noise Sam held his held his breath for the long moments it took to approach the old man. He just made it past when he was caught by a sudden open eye.   
“Hey kid, stop!” yelled the old man as he stood up.   
If I was Sam, I would have turned back and ran out of that alley as fast as I could go, I’m sure you would have too. Sam did not. He ran in the opposite direction, deeper into the alley with the man calling him to stop and come back. The alley turned to the right and then to the left before it abruptly stopped at brick wall where there was a rusty oil drum that had been used as a fire pit and a couple plastic milk crates. Sam reached a dead end.   
“GET BACK HERE KID!” the old man yelled and yelled again, his voice growing louder each time.   
Sam was trapped. There was no way for him to call for help. There was no place to hide and all he could do was to wait for his pursuer to catch him or risk running back past the old man as fast as he could. Sam decided to run. He took a slow deep breath and exhaled, it was a trick his father taught him to calm down. He took another breath and knelt down on one knee just like a track sprinter he saw on TV. Sam would run as fast as he could to the street without stopping. He took a third deep breath and counted backwards.   
“Three, two…” Sam saw a crack where the alley walls met. It was a narrow black slit. But, it seemed wide enough for him to slip into, if he went sideways. He gazed as deep into the fissure as he could and at the far end he saw a thin bright sliver of blue sky.   
You might think Sam was brave or you might think he was foolish for going to the city on his own and going down into the alley and did I mention Sam didn’t have a cell phone? It’s one thing to think about being on an adventure, another thing if going on such an adventure means no one will know if something bad happens. The old man yelled again, he was just around the last corner.   
Sam slowly edged himself sideways squeezing into the little space trying not to let the walls touch his father’s hoodie. The crack was too narrow for an adult. But thankfully there was just enough room for Sam. He had to press himself between a cold brick wall on one side and a equally chill concrete one on the other. Despite his efforts to not touch either wall, they pressed against him and at times rubbed against his back and stomach. To fit in the narrow space, Sam had to keep his head turned over his shoulder and his feet twisted sideways. He slowly slid his lead foot first and pulled himself along using his palms against the brick against his back. As he did he dragged his rear foot forward. It was this way Sam carefully shuffled forward his feet sliding through thick piles of scrap paper; paper that had accumulated over many, many years. He tried to look up to see the sky. But, the buildings were too tall. All he could do was keep his focus on the distant shard of blue which did not seem to grow any wider. Deep into the fissure Sam found himself surrounded by crackling noises as if tiny feet were walking on newspaper. He closed his eyes hoping the noise makers would not show themselves. I won’t tell you how Sam was stuck once. But, I am sure you know how he felt.   
Eventually the blue slit grew wider and Sam saw beyond it a tall glass office building in the distance. Then it was over, he reached the far end and everything opened up. Sam emerged ont a tree lined cobblestone street. Cobblestones were used to pave streets in cities before concrete and asphalt. They are large rounded stones, the kind you might find along a river, which are packed tightly together partially buried in the ground. Sam looked about he was at the bottom of a gorge formed by several office towers with windows that looked out over him and in the windows he saw their office workers. In front of Sam between two tall thick oak trees was his destination, the two story brick shop with bay windows and sign over the door that read, “Seeker and Finder’s Shoppe.”   
The shop was not the only building on the cobblestone street. Next it was an even smaller structure of tan colored wood barely wider than its door with a second floor window under a peaked roof. A window box full of red flowers was perched on the window’s sill and hanging from the book over a bright red door was a sign in the shape of a rainbow stripped winged pig. A sudden shadow passed over Sam and when he looked up he saw a low flying passenger plane slowly making its way to Logan airport.   
Excited he was at the end of his journey Sam ran to the shop and looked into the small glass panes of the one of its twin bay windows. It was just as he remembered from his dream; inside on the sill stood the cat figurine. Bursting with anticipation, Sam pushed open the door and accompanied by jingling bell stepped inside. He looked about. The tables and shelves packed full of stuff was just like in his dreams. But, there was no teddy bear on the counter waiting for him.   
“How can I help you young sir?”   
Sam looked around the shop. He didn’t see anyone until the cat figurine stepped off her pedestal and placed the bouquet of white flowers on top of it. Sam blinked and rubbed his eyes.  
“I am Louise, the Baroness von Gikkingen. The artisan who created me named me so and I am the proprietor of the Seeker and Finder’s Shoppe.”


	4. Brunch

Now, when I was Sam’s age or a bit younger, I imagined I could make inanimate objects come to life. Inanimate is another way of saying something can’t move on its own, like a stone, or a spoon, or a statuette. I know I was old enough to know as well as Sam knows and maybe you that an inanimate object can’t move unless it is moved by something. So you can imagine Sam squinting at the small cat person to see if there were strings attached to her or if she was mechanical.   
“You are wondering if you’re dreaming. You are not. You have my assurance I am as real as you are” said the Baroness with a smile. Cats don’t have lips like people. But her whiskers arched up.   
“I, I, I’m…” Sam had trouble finding his name, “Sam.”   
“It a pleasure to meet you Sam. Although I am sure you didn’t expect to encounter a talking cat.”  
“No, no ma’am, I didn’t… How are you talking? Is it magic?”   
“Sam, you don’t have to call me ma’am and please don’t call me Baroness Louise von Gikkingen either. I’m the Baroness and yes Sam, it is magic. There are places in the world where magic happens and the Mews is one of those places.”   
Back in a time when people living in cities rode horse drawn carriages and not cars, they had carriage houses and stables behind their homes. Mews is another word for the alleys those carriage houses and stables faced.   
“What brings you to my shop today Sam?”  
“I had dreams I was here and then when my mother was taking me to my grandmother’s I saw the sign at the end of the alley and I knew my dream was real. You were in my dream, well you were a statute and there was this teddy bear too.” Sam pulled the picture from his pocket and handed it to the Baroness. Being as tall as a cat when it is stretched out on the floor, she had to reach up and held the photograph the same way you and I would hold a poster.   
“You and the little boy in the picture look a lot alike even though the picture is old and he can’t be more than two or three years old. What a glorious smile he has too holding his teddy bear. Is this a picture of your father?” the Baroness asked.   
Sam told the Baroness the picture was indeed of his father.   
“In my dreams, I am here, in your shop and the bear is sitting right there,” he pointed to a counter on which there was a very large doll house.   
“My father is in the hospital. He’s very sick…no one tells me anything…but, I know he’s dying. I gotta find his bear, so I can give it to him. I thought if my dream was real,… But you don’t have it do you?” Sam’s eyes began to glisten with tears, he already knew the answer.   
“No Sam, I don’t have your father’s bear. But, I will help you find it if it can be found” after a brief pause the Baroness added, “all you need is hope to go with the love you already have.”   
The Baroness hopped off the window sill and lightly landed at Sam’s feet.   
“Sam, would you like something to eat?”  
“Yes ma’am, I mean Baroness, I am a little hungry, I didn’t eat breakfast.”  
“And it is well past lunch time. I know a place where the food is delicious and we can talk about your quest after you eat. Let me put on my coat and we’ll be all set to go.”   
The Baroness gracefully hopped up onto the counter and stepped into the doll house’s open back. She removed a grey coat with silver buttons from a coat hook and buttoned it up. She gave quick look into a miniature full length mirror and adjusted her hat with a quick tap. Then the Baroness picked a fancy looking purple umbrella from a collection of umbrellas in a brass tube that was no bigger than a toilet paper roll. Had Sam been a little older, he may have known her umbrella was a parasol and parasols are used as shade from the sun and not to stop rain. She gave Sam another catty smile and leapt off the counter, her dress billowing slightly as she dropped to the floor.   
“We won’t be gone long” she remarked as she led Sam out of the shop and as he waited for her to shut the door he looked about. Even though the Mews was walled in by the typical tall office buildings you find in a city it was an amazingly unusual place. It had back doors the way an alley would have. But, it was wider and there were no dumpsters. There were several other small buildings besides the “Seeker and Finder’s Shoppe” and the one with the flying pig sign. A grassy ribbon ran on sides of the street with a scattering of trees providing shady spots. Sam recognized some of the trees the oak trees on either side of the Baroness’ shop and a huge maple, glowing orange after being touched by fall. But, other trees like the ones with gold colored seemed as if they came from a fairy tale book.   
As Sam looked about he saw the largest rat he had ever seen been scurry out of the crack he himself had egressed from only minutes before. Isn’t egress a great word? It means exit and if you have time, read the story of P.T. Barnum’s life, you will find out he once had a museum with an exhibit sign that said “This way to the Egress”.   
Sam as I may have already mentioned was terrified of rats. Even his friend’s older sister’s white pet rat with pink eyes and pink nose made him shudder. The rat that emerged from the crack was longer than his school books and its dark gray tail made it look twice as long. It had dirty brown fur streaked with black and gray and its eyes were shiny black beads. The Baroness had her back turned as she had been shutting the shop’s door all Sam could do was stare at the rodent afraid to move or call out. The rat came towards them, twitched its nose at him and stood up on its hind legs.   
“Good afternoon Baroness,” the rat said with a bow, “Want me watch your shop while you’re gone?”   
“That would be grand Toto. We will not be gone long. Come Sam it is only a short walk to the restaurant.”   
After they had gone a ways from the rat, the Baroness looked up at her companion.  
“Sam, while are here you may see things you think are strange. You are always welcome to ask questions. But please do not stare.”   
“Yes Baroness,” Sam answered.   
“You said you were created. How is it you are alive?” Sam asked awkwardly.  
“I can’t explain how magic works. My true love, the Baron and I were carved from the same log and it is said when something is created, a bit of the creator’s soul is passed onto the creation.”   
“Will I meet the Baron at the restaurant?”  
“No, Sam. The Baron and I were separated many years ago,” the Baroness replied lowering her head.   
“I’m sorry, Baroness. I think I know how you feel. My father is very sick and I can’t see him.”  
“It is hard when you love someone not to be with them. But always remember, love is the strongest magic there is and no matter what happens, your love for your father will give you strength to not give up hope.”  
“Do you hope to see the Baron?”  
“Yes Sam.”  
Sam wanted to ask the Baroness more questions about herself, he wanted to know where she came from and how did she find things. But as they walked along the cobblestone way he ended up answering her questions about his mother and father. Before he knew it they arrived at the screened back door of one of the soaring buildings that enclosed the Mews. The door was not different from a screened door you might see at someone’s house and the inner door behind it was open. From inside, Sam heard people talking loudly and sounds of pans and pots being jostled about as well as the delicious scent of cooking food.   
Using the tip of parasol the Baroness reached up and pressed the doorbell. After a moment or two a large man dressed in all white except for his shiny black shoes came to the door. He wiped flour covered hands on his white apron and adjusted his white toque. I didn’t know what a toque was until I looked it up. I learned a toque is the pleated hat a chef wears and the number pleats or folds, the hat has is equal to the number recipes the chef has mastered. This chef wore a toque with a hundred pleats.   
“Baroness, it is wonderful to see you and who is your companion?” the man asked as he opened the door with a broad grin. The Baroness introduced Sam to Tony. Tony was the restaurant’s co-owner as well as its chef. He didn’t ask why they were at back door to his kitchen; instead he immediately told them that the Baroness’ reserved table was ready for her.   
“Thank you Tony, I think Sam is hungry and I’d like a little pot of tea.”  
“I don’t know if I have enough money” Sam said as he reached for his wallet.   
“You don’t need money when you are with the Baroness, young man.” Tony said with a hearty laugh, “tell me what you would like and we will fix it for you.”  
“I don’t know what I want to eat. I didn’t think I was hungry until the Baroness asked me. I didn’t have breakfast. My aunt bought donuts and I don’t like donuts. My father makes me pancakes Sundays. Can you make me a couple pancakes?”  
“Pancakes are a specialty of the house,” said Tony who called one of the wait staff to bring Sam and the Baroness to their table.   
“Baroness, I’ll tell Merva you are here, she’s busy upstairs doing paperwork. But, I know she’ll want to come down to say hello.”   
Sam and the Baroness followed the young woman who Tony introduced as Sophia through the kitchen where other chefs dressed in white like Tony and wearing toques, although with far few pleats hustled about preparing food. Had Sam been a little older he may have known they were Sous Chefs, who worked under Tony along with prep-persons, bus-persons and dishwashers. Unlike Tony, Sophia was dressed in black except for her white blouse and a green, black and gold stripped crochet beanie. She led Sam and the Baroness into a long busy dining area where dark wood paneled walls hung with paintings and photographs of Venice with its canals and gondolas, the Leaning Tower of Pizza and pictures of sunny beaches with palm trees and the bluest water Sam had ever seen.   
The restaurant was crowded with people sitting around white linen covered tables, eating from fine china and chatting. The patrons were a mix of tourist and local. There were groups of adults in suits and there were couples and families, some with young children. Everyone seemed to be having a great time. Yet, even though Sam was accompanied by a tiny cat person, no one seemed to notice them. Then when Sam suddenly saw a bushy orange white tipped tail swish out from under Sophia’s skirt he remembered what the Baroness said and tried not to stare.   
The Baroness’ table was up in front of the restaurant next to a large window and it looked out onto the busy Boston Street and the cemetery Sam passed on his way to the alley. Their table, like the others was covered by a white linen table cloth and set with cloth napkins folded to look like fans. There two sets of silverware, pair of china cups on matching saucers and long stem glasses. But one of the settings was in miniature. Sam politely waited until the Baroness sat down before he joined her as Sophia poured out water into the glasses. She excused herself with a smile saying their food would be ready in a couple minutes. Outside pedestrians walked past the window oblivious to the Baroness. She smiled her cat smile and answered his question before he asked,   
“Sam, the first rule of magic is people don’t see things they don’t expect to see.”  
“Is that why no one was looking out the office windows or stared at us when we went through the kitchen and dining area?”  
“Sort of. The same magic that surrounds the Mews touches this restaurant and more. There is much magic in Boston, if you know where to find it. Now tell me more about the bear if you can.”  
“I don’t know much. The picture was on the wall in my grandmother’s house and when I told her of my dream, she said I must have seen it when I was very little. My mother and father took me to Boston when I was a baby. But I don’t remember anything. The teddy bear was my fathers’ and my grandmother said he always had it with him when he was younger. But somehow it was lost and she said it was probably thrown away.”  
“That’s not a good sign. Being lost and being thrown away are two different things. But, I think your attraction to the teddy bear too strong for it to be thrown away. Let me give this some thought while you eat.”   
“Welcome Baroness and welcome young man” said a woman in a melodic Caribbean accent. Sam turned and standing next to the table, was a tall woman in a flowing flowery dress and a turquoise blue hair wrap that made her look taller. She was accompanied by another wait-staff who wore a black suit with white shirt and who brought a cart to the table.   
“Merva, it is lovely to see you.”  
“It’s always lovely to see you Baroness. Is this young gentleman the Sam Tony told me about?”   
“Yes Ma’am.”  
“Such a polite young man. I want you to know Tony made something special for you,” she said as she took from the cart two covered plates and a bowl of diced fruit and set them before Sam while the waiter placed a glass of orange juice next to his water. Merva removed the covers and Sam was treated to a stack of pancakes and sausage. Then Merva placed a tea pot covered by a cozy next to Baroness, and the young person helping her set out a silver pitcher of maple syrup and a small saucer of butter patties for Sam. A tea cozy by the way is a quilted cloth cover which keeps teapots warm and this one was grey with rounded pink ears that made it look like a mouse. Finally Merva set aside a blue rectangular tin box and a strainer on a saucer for the Baroness.   
“How are your children?” asked the Baroness.  
“They are grand. The boys are finishing school and my daughter found a job in Japan. She’s going to be working as an arborist in a camphor tree forest.”  
“What are Camphor trees?” asked Sam who remembered his manners and swallowed the most delicious piece of sausage he ever ate before he spoke.  
“My daughter told me Camphor trees are giant evergreens that grow in wet forests,” replied Merva, “they aren’t like pines, they are kind of like Mountain Laurel except they grow very, very tall. How do you like your brunch Sam?”   
“This is the best sausage I’ve ever had and the pancakes taste like pumpkin pie.”  
“That is because they are made with pumpkin,” Merva said with a smile. “But, the sausage isn’t sausage, it’s made from tofu. We are a vegan restaurant. Although, it seems, Tony has made some allowances for you, like the butter.” Merva said her goodbyes and returned to her work.   
The Baroness poured the hot water over her tea and Sam eagerly ate his brunch. As he chewed he held his questions remembering what his mother and father taught him about being polite in restaurants and instead he watched the people outside, amazed that even when someone looked into the window, they didn’t stare. The Baroness sipped her tea and as she did, she closed her eyes as if thinking. Every once in a while she gave her ears a twitch. When Sam finished his meal, the wait-staff reappeared and removed his plates. Then as the wait-staff refilled Sam’s water, the Baroness opened her eyes.   
“George, would you bring a mug of Tony’s hot chocolate, I am sure Sam would enjoy a treat and please bring a bowl of Tony’s chowder. We are expecting Rex to join us any minute.”   
“Yes, Baroness” came the polite reply.   
Once the wait-staff left the Baroness took another sip of her and looked at Sam.   
“Let’s talk about your quest and how we are going to go about looking for your father’s bear.”  
“I don’t know how we are going to do that. It’s been too long and what if it was thrown away?”   
“The only way we will find out is by seeking,” replied the Baroness, “Oh there’s Rex, Sam would you let him? He can’t open the door.”   
“Sure.” Sam replied as he left his chair. He didn’t know who Rex was or why he couldn’t open the door. He went to the restaurant’s glass entrance and saw a large black and brown German Shepherd with a grey muzzle sitting patiently on the step.   
Oh did I mention Sam had just met a couple ghosts or as the Baroness called them, spirits?


	5. Good Nose

Let me tell you about the spirits Sam met before I continue with the rest of Sam’s story. It was when the Baroness was sipping tea and Sam enjoying his pumpkin pancakes slathered with amber maple syrup and topped by a square of melting butter that he saw an oddly dressed couple across the street strolling through the old cemetery. Sam’s chair faced the window and he was people watching as he ate. It was a warm and sunny afternoon fall day and the cemetery was crowded with tourists taking selfies in front of headstones for such American Revolutionary War patriots as Samuel Adams, John Hancock and Paul Revere. The couple looked as if they were tour guides wearing clothes from that historic time. Now, I’m sure you’ve seen pictures of people wearing such clothes. You may have even gone to Revolutionary War re-enactments which are kind of like cos-play, except most of the people are probably as old as your grandparents.  
The man wore an open light brown coat with a tail, which means its back was cut longer than its front. Under the coat he had on a dark brown vest buttoned up with glinting shiny brass buttons and a collarless white shirt and black breeches. Breeches are short pants with legs only as long as the wearer’s calves. In America breeches are called knickers; in England they are called breeks because in England, knickers are underwear. The man wore white stockings and shiny black shoes with a large silver buckles on them. He also wore a black tricorn hat, which is a wool felt hat with a stiff brim stiffly curled up on three sides. His companion also wore a hat. Her hat was white with had a broad brim trimmed in lace the same color as the robin’s egg Sam saw on a hike with his father. Her long dark blue gown was also trimmed with the robin’s egg blue lace and like the Baroness she carried a parasol which she held closed over her shoulder.  
Sam assumed the couple was taking a break from leading tourists, until they left the cemetery, crossed the busy street ignoring traffic as they did and walked into the restaurant. That is, they stepped through the door without opening it. The couple immediately saw the Baroness and walked over to the table. Sam was soon introduced to Molly and Crispus. Sam had seen pictures of the “Founding Fathers” in school books and the internet and he knew Alexander Hamilton was from the Caribbean. But, he had never seen pictures of people from that period of history whose skin was darker than his and Sam wondered if Crispus was the spirit of an enslaved person.  
“Young master Samuel it is because of the Baroness my Crispus and I are together forever. I had the pox and my Crispus went to Boston for medicine. He didn’t return and no word was heard from him before I died. I was laid in the ground destined to become a forlorn spirit eternally searching for my life’s love.” Molly told Sam as she held her companion’s hand.  
“And I, young master Samuel lost my Molly. I could not return home and sadly I could not get news to her about my fate. I had gone to the Apothecary down by the Custom House. There was a disturbance and I was shot by the King’s troops. They interred me in yonder Granary Burying Grounds, and I too became a forlorn spirit doomed to an eternal search. But, I met the Baroness and she found my Molly.”  
“It was easy for you two to find each other,” the Baroness replied with her catty smile, “we had the clues. Crispus, your home with Molly was in Framingham and Molly knew you went to Boston. All I did was to help the two of you put the clues together.”  
Crispus gave the Baroness a broad grin and Molly offered a demure smile. They wished the Baroness and Sam a pleasant goodbye, Crispus with a tip of his hat and bow and Molly with a curtsy. Then the pair faded like the mist on a hot road after a brief summer shower.  
“Did they go to heaven?”  
“Their heaven is with each other,” replied the Baroness returning to her tea.  
Let’s return to Sam’s story and pick up where Sam saw the black and brown German Shepherd with the grey muzzle sitting outside the restaurant’s door.  
“Rex is a dog’s name” Sam said to himself as he looked outside. The dog looked back and gave Sam a wink. When Sam opened the door the dog rushed past him and trotted over to their table. As he did, he stood up on his hind legs. Sam returned to the table to find his empty dishes cleared away and replaced by a steaming mug of the most delightful hot chocolate he ever tasted.  
“I hope you don’t mind if I stand. Sitting in chairs is so uncomfortable. I don’t know how you humans do it,” Rex said to Sam.  
“Mind you, I’m sure it isn’t good for you either. I see many humans with round bellies. Anyway would you mind if I enjoy my chowder while we talk?” The Baroness said she didn’t mind and Sam agreed. Rex turned his attention to carefully lapping up the bowl’s contents with his tongue.  
“Rex, you’ve come just in time, Sam and I are going to talk about his quest and our commission to help him find his father’s Teddy bear.”  
“Commission?”  
“Yes Sam, you see I must be asked to help someone find a thing.”  
“How much do you charge” asked Sam, his face wrinkling with worry. His father being a writer worked on commission.  
“There is never a charge or cost for services rendered by the Seeker and Finder’s Shoppe.”  
“Oh, even if you did charge, I have forty, almost forty-five dollars,” Sam said, “and yes, I want your help in finding my father’s Teddy Bear. Can you make it appear now or will we have to go back to your shop?”  
“Sam, unfortunately, that is not how magic works. Just as Crispus and Molly needed clues to find each other, we need clues to help you find your father’s bear. Rex is my associate and he has a good nose for sniffing out clues.”  
“It sniffs out a great many things if you ask me,” added Rex, “You humans think seeing in color is so good? Let me tell you, I know from my snout Sam had pumpkin pancakes with rich tasting maple syrup that probably came from Berkshires and Sam had Tony’s special sausage to go with it and Baroness, you are drinking your favorite blend of Earl Grey with more than a hint of Bergamot and Darjeeling and see that couple over there...”  
“Rex, you have a great nose,” the Baroness said with a chuckle, “We may need it too. I’m afraid from what Sam already told me, the clues to where the teddy bear has gone are stale. Sam, did you say your grandmother doesn’t know when she last saw the bear?”  
“Yes Baroness and she said it may have been thrown out.”  
“I hope I don’t have to root around Spectacle Island again, it took me days to get the smell of that landfill out of my coat. All my friends thought I had been rolling around with roadkill skunk.”  
“Rex you were a good dog for diligently searching in all that trash and I didn’t notice the smell after Tony gave you a Tomato sauce bath.”  
“Yup, I smelled like a bowl of spaghetti and roadkill skunk for a week” Rex said leaning close to Sam with an open mouth grin only dog can make.  
“It could have been incinerated too, the Teddy Bear that is,” added Rex before he gave the bowl a long slow swipe of his tongue.  
The thought of his father’s bear turned to ash or buried under tons of trash warmed Sam’s face.  
“Sam, your grandmother may be right. Your father’s bear could have been thrown away,” the Baroness said, “but, don’t forget you have strong feelings for this bear and we really won’t know what happened until we search and we need clues to search. I think you can find the clues if you interview your grandmother.”  
“I already asked my grandmother, she told me she didn’t know what happened to my father’s bear,” replied Sam.  
“Sam, asking and interviewing are not the same thing. Interviewing often starts with a story and once the story is told, questions help the person telling the story remember more than they think they know. Why not, ask your grandmother to tell you a story about your father and the bear. You’ll be surprised what she may remember.”  
“I could ask my aunt too. She’s older than my father and she took my grandmother to the hospital this morning so I can ask when they get back…”  
Sam suddenly finished with an exclamation, using a swearword he heard at school. Not the “F” bomb. But what he said immediately made Sam feel like he said something awful in front of the Baroness and he lowered his head with embarrassment. Rex chuckled and when Sam worriedly looked up at the Baroness she appeared to have not noticed his rude remark.  
“I need to get back,” Sam anxiously said, “I didn’t tell anyone I was coming here. My cousin was supposed to be watching me and she wasn’t paying attention to me and she wouldn’t have let me leave the house if she knew I was coming here and I don’t have a phone and suppose my father is sicker.” As Sam spoke his worries r pushed his words together.  
“Sam, there is no time to waste,” the Baroness said calmly with a look that immediately helped Sam feel calmer.  
“Let’s go back to the shop; I want to give you something. Rex, would you run back and let Greene know Sam needs a ride?” Rex who had by this time doubly finished making sure his bowl was shiny clean, licked his snout and acknowledged the Baroness’ request by trotting through the dining room on all fours, proudly wagging his tail.  
“Rex likes searching and Greene is another of my associates. Greene is proprietor of the “Flying Hog’s”. Greene will be able to get you back to your grandmother’s much faster than a train could.”  
Sam and the Baroness rushed back to her shop where Rex and Greene were already waiting for them along with a shiny black motorcycle and sidecar. The motorcycle was trimmed with thin orange stipes and on the gas tank there was a painted image of an eagle diving through the center of an upside down golden five pointed star. The bike’s engine was bigger than any motorcycle engine Sam had seen before and its twin finned cylinders glistened with chrome as did its spoked rims and handlebars. The bullet shaped sidecar was painted to match the bike and it too featured a diving eagle on its nose.  
Big and muscular, Greene was dressed in green overalls and black leather jacket which like the motorcycle had a patch of an eagle diving into upside down star. With a scraggly red beard and mane of red hair Greene looked like a member of a motorcycle club, like the ones you may see driving down a highway on a bright summer’s afternoon. Greene gave Sam a toothy grin and held a hand out for Sam to shake.  
“It is a pleasure to meet you kid, any friend of the Baroness and Rex is a friend of mine.” Sam’s hand was swallowed by Greene’s grasp and he saw identical dark red tattoos of upside down five pointed stars circled by double rings on the backs of both hands.  
“Thank you sir” he answered.  
“No sir here” Greene said with laugh, “just Greene. We are all set to go anytime you are Baroness.”  
“Thank you Greene, I will be staying, for now. But, I would like you to bring Sam to his grandmother’s.”  
“Certainly Baroness. Just say when.”  
Sam followed the Baroness into the shop where the rat Toto waited.  
“No customer’s Baroness. But I found this ball of twine, may I keep it?”  
“Of course Toto” she replied, “and thank you for watching the shop.”  
“My pleasure Baroness, anytime. I’m going back to keep an eye out for more visitors and Sam, I apologize if I scared you earlier, you never know what kind of riff raff you will find in an alley. I think next time you go on an adventure you should bring a phone and an adult.” The rat gave Sam a ratty smile and left with his ball of twine clutched in his ratty paws.  
The Baroness jumped up on the window sill where her pedestal was and picked up what Sam remembered from dream was a kaleidoscope. But it wasn’t. The tube was an old flashlight about as long as his mother’s cell phone, with a thick bulb like glass lens on end and a spring steel clip bolted to one side opposite a brass switch. She handed the light to Sam. It was heavy, much heavier than his tablet or his math book. It was almost as heavy as a brick.  
“This torch will let us know when you’ve found clues to where your father’s teddy bear. You will need to decide what those clues are and once you do, you have to go outside and shine the light into the sky. Just flip the torch’s switch forward and push down on its button. Greene will see the light and we will come to you.”  
Sam nodded and clipped the flashlight to belt.  
“Sam, you must know the torch will only work one time and only after you find the clues you need. If there are no clues, your father’s teddy bear cannot be found. If the teddy bear cannot be found the magic which led you to me will be gone and I won’t be able to help you… I am sorry Sam. But remember, no matter what happens, love is the strongest magic there is.”  
Sam climbed aboard the sidecar and Greene stomped the motorcycle’s kick starter. There was a sputter and then a roaring rumble. Sam turned to see the Baroness and Rex watching from the shop’s stoop. He realized it may be the last time he would see them.  
“I hope you know where your grandmother lives kid.” Greene shouted over the engine’s noise.  
“She’s close to the Brookline Village station. I don’t know the name of her street. But…”  
“Good enough kid. Hang on it’s going to be a bumpy ride.”  
Sam anticipated it would a wild ride. Even though he didn’t know the time, the sun was already slipping down behind the buildings on the Mew’s west side leaving growing shadows. If Boston was anything like Portland, they would be traveling during the city’s busy streets during ‘Rush Hour’. The motorcycle jumped forward and Sam clung to the edge of the shaking sidecar as they roared over the bumpy cobblestone. His gritted his teeth to keep from biting his tongue and the wind blew hard in his face. The exhilarating ride soon put aside his worries.  
They bounced and rumbled through the Mews which ended suddenly at the office buildings that lined its sides. Greene drove them straight at it. Sam clamped his eyes shut and tightened his grip. He waited for what would happen next. Suddenly he was pushed down into his seat as the motorcycle and sidecar leapt from the ground. They went straight up into the sky like rocket. They rose over the tops of Boston’s towering buildings until the city was spread out below them like a circuit board.  
“I didn’t know motorcycles could be magic” Sam yelled over the engine and wind, which wasn’t a strong as he thought it would be given how fast they were moving.  
“It’s not a magic motorcycle, kid. I’m a witch. Anyway we’re just above Brookline Village can you see your grandmother’s house?”  
They had dropped much lower and when Sam looked down he recognized the “T” station, it was just like the satellite view on his tablet and he quickly picked out his grandmother’s street and her light green house with white sunroom, where his father’s car was parked in the driveway. Behind it there was another car, one he did not recognize.  
Greene settled the motorcycle on the street with a hard bump. He rolled to a stop between two parked cars in front of the short stone walk to Sam’s grandmothers.  
“All set kid. You remember how to use that flashlight?”  
“Yes Greene, I have to push the switch forward.”  
“Good, I hope you find clues that can you. If not all of this will seem like a dream and like Baroness and Rex I’d rather you get that bear back to your dad.”  
As soon as Sam opened his grandmother’s front door he was greeted by Missy.  
“MOM, Grandma, he’s back,” she shouted


	6. Clues

“Where’ve you been? We’ve been worried sick.” The tall thin woman standing next to Missy said in an angry tone.  
“For shame, you’ve ruined your father’s sweatshirt,” she added.  
It wasn’t just from Christmas postcards that Sam knew this woman was his aunt she also resembled his father even though he had no hair. Before Sam could answer, Missy grabbed the flashlight from his belt.  
“He must’ve gone to some junk store.” His cousin announced flicking the light’s switch back and forth while shaking it.  
“And the stupid thing doesn’t even work.”  
Sam felt sick to his stomach. He remembered the Baroness telling him the light would only work once and he was standing in the foyer of his grandmother’s house watching his cousin flick its switch while his aunt scolded him.  
“Leave him be, Sam has enough on his plate without you berating him.” Sam’s grandmother said as she came down the stairs.  
“He shouldn’t have left. Doesn’t he have the sense to know and look what he did to his father’s sweat shirt,” answered Sam’s aunt.  
“It’s been dirtier,” replied Sam’s grandmother, “Sam go upstairs to clean up and meet me in the kitchen with the sweater.” she added calmly. It was her way of telling Sam’s aunt that the conversation was closed.  
“Missy, give me back my flashlight. Please.”  
Something had changed about Sam. Before he visited the Baroness, he would have whined to his grandmother, asking her to get the flashlight back for him. But, he didn’t. At first Missy wasn’t going to take orders from a ten-year old. But, the look on her grandmother’s face changed her mind and she tossed it. Sam sucked in his breath and reached forward catching the flashlight with the tips of his fingers and pulling to his chest the way his father taught him how to catch a football.  
“Sam, can you tell me where you went?” asked his grandmother when they were alone in the kitchen and he had handed the hoodie to her. She had already told him reassuringly that his father was “stable” and his mother would be back later in the evening to clean up and change before returning to the hospital Sam was relieved to hear the news and he was glad to find out she did not tell his mother he had gone missing.  
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know I’d be gone so long and I’m sorry I messed up the hoodie.”  
“The hoodie can cleaned. But, if anything had happened to you,…well, I’m glad you are here.”  
Sam wanted to tell his grandmother about meeting the Baroness and Rex and getting a ride in a flying motorcycle and being given a magic flashlight. But, he didn’t. Would you?  
“I walked around,” Sam answered. He waited for her to interrogate him about his absence. But she said nothing.  
“Gran, I was thinking…”  
“Yes, Sam?”  
“When I was walking around, I thought about dad’s teddy bear. It was awfully big, was he afraid of it?”  
“No, he fell in love with Bearbear the moment he saw it. Even when he barely could walk he would drag it all over the house and whenever he took a nap he’d sleep on it like a pillow.”  
“Did he have when he went to school?”  
“He took it to show and tell once. He was in kindergarten. I don’t think he was the only kid in the class with a special stuffed animal. He kept it on his bed for a long time too. When he was older he put it in the closet so his friends wouldn’t see it and his sisters wouldn’t tease him about it. But…I remember, he slept with it on his bed when he was in Junior High after his girlfriend died. It was terrible. She was killed by a car crossing the street not far from the “T”. That was probably the last time I saw it. Now why don’t you play your game for a bit?”  
Sam went upstairs to his father’s room. Rather than go on his tablet or play one of the old video games his father had, he searched the room clues. The drawers, under the bed and in the closet, he looked everywhere without success.  
Sam’s aunt had Chinese food delivered and when it arrived Missy announced she would eat later and went to the living room to continue playing her game console. Sam didn’t feel hungry. But, he picked through the selection of boxes at the dining room table with his aunt and grandmother. When they finished he volunteered to help his aunt clear away the dishes and as she rinsed them, he placed them in the dishwasher.  
“Do you remember my father’s Teddy Bear?” he asked, not sure whether she would answer. His aunt looked down at Sam with the same narrow and tight face she had when he first arrived. He expected her to scold him.  
“That mangy thing? Why are you asking?”  
“I saw picture of him with it and he looked so happy. Gran said he had the bear for a long time. But it is missing. I thought he would like to have it again.”  
“Don’t be silly. That bear’s gone. Probably got trashed years ago.”  
Sam almost gave up. But, he persisted.  
“Gran said he kept on his bed after his girlfriend died.”  
“It was a terrible accident. We were away on vacation when it happened. She was a sweet kid and her family didn’t live far from us. I hung out with her brother and we all took it hard when she was killed, not just your dad. They moved away shortly after and I never saw her brother again.”  
“I’m sorry.”  
“No reason for you to be sorry. Has nothing to do with you.”  
“Having the bear must have helped my father through it. ”  
“Yeah, you can say that. It was weeks before he seemed to get over her death. He’d just mope about siting on his bed playing videogames with that bear as a pillow behind his back. He had it all through high school too. But he kept it in the closet. He didn’t think we knew about it.”  
“I looked in the closet, I didn’t see it. Do you think it might be someplace else?”  
“If it isn’t in the attic, it was tossed.” was her final response on the subject.  
When Sam finished helping his aunt he asked his grandmother if he look in the attic for his father’s lost bear. He was surprised she helped him search among stacked cardboard boxes in the narrow dusty space above the second floor under a pair of light bulbs which hung from wires from the rafters. Fortunately, Sam’s grandmother and grandfather were very organized and they soon found several cartons with his father’s name on them. Sadly, their search too was unsuccessful. Disappointed, Sam returned to his father’s room despite his grandmother’s encouragement to join her in a game of ‘Scrabble’. He made another forlorn search for clues to bear’s whereabouts in a box of pictures from the closet. Forlorn by the way is another way of saying Sam lost hope of finding the teddy bear.  
Street light had already turned on and the sky was dark. Sam waited for his mother, sitting on his father’s bed, his back propped up on pillows against its headboard. He played an old video game, where a little blue hedgehog, at least that is what the game’s cartridge said it was, ran about collecting golden rings and fighting an egg shaped adversary with a wild moustache. He thought it would help him be closer to his father if he played the same game, in the same room on the same bed. But he wasn’t sure if it did.  
A shadow in the doorway turned out to be Missy.  
“Can I come in?”  
“Sure,” Sam answered, swinging his legs over the bed so she could sit next to him.  
“I used to play that game too, it was my brother’s. Ever play it before?  
“No, it’s my first time; I usually play RPG’s, what about you?”  
“First person shooters. Look, tween,…I’m sorry I was such an A-hole when you got here.”  
“That’s ok.”  
“No… it’s not. See, I haven’t seen my dad in years. He left my mom when I was baby and got re-married. All I get are gifts on Christmas which aren’t even wrapped and don’t even have the price tags taken off.”  
“I’m sorry.”  
“No reason for you to be sorry. But, I am. I’m sorry your dad is in the hospital and he might,… he might.”  
“Die?” Sam answered sniffing up a tearful run from his nose.  
“Oh I hope not. Anyway, you can see my mom is a bit severe. I learned early to ignore her.”  
“Missy, I know she loves you and you love her and love is magic.”  
“Thanks tween and if you want me to stay here with you I will.”  
“Thanks cousin, I’m ok. I just want to be alone. I have to beat this level.”  
“It’s a hard one,” Missy said as she got up and headed to the door, “You gotta spin when you hit the acid lake. If you don’t, you won’t get through.”  
Sam followed Missy’s advice. He finished the level and the next couple ones before he heard the downstairs door open, the clock on his father’s bureau read nine thirty. Sam bolted up and ran down to his mother’s waiting arms.  
You will need to imagine how happy Sam was when he saw his mother. When he asked her how his father was and she replied he was unconscious but, stable you need imagine how hard he hugged her.  
“The doctors say his brain is under a lot of pressure from the stroke and they gave him medication to lower it. But the medication isn’t working and they are going put a small hole in his skull.” Sam asked if that would make his father better and she replied the doctors felt it could and that she hoped it would.  
“What do you do when you are at the hospital?” asked Sam.  
“I talk to your father. I tell him we miss him and we want him to get well. The Doctors say he may be able to hear and I want him to find his way back to us.”  
“I can talk to him too. I can tell him about my dream and his bear. Can I go with you? I promise I won’t cry.”  
“You can cry anytime you want. Let’s wait until tomorrow. Your aunt said you had a long day when I called earlier.”  
Embarrassed, Sam nodded. He gave his mother another hug.  
“What’s this about a bear?” she asked.  
Sam remembering he had to interview his mother too told her he would be right back and went to get the picture from where he left it on his father’ bureau. When he returned he found his mother and grandmother and aunt sitting at the kitchen table.  
“Mom, I found this picture of dad when he was little.”  
“Bearbear, I haven’t seen him years.” Sam’s mother replied fingering the photo.  
“Your father gave him to me when we got engaged. He said Bearbear would always…always,” her voice broke and she stopped. Tears started down her cheeks and Sam’s grandmother quickly handed her a paper napkin. After using it to wipe them and dab her eyes, she thanked his grandmother and continued.  
“Sam this picture means a lot to me. Your father said when he gave me Bearbear that no matter what happens it will hold a piece of his heart. Thank you finding this picture. I want to bring it back to the hospital with me.”  
“Mom, what happened to the bear? I want to find it for dad. But, I can’t.”  
“We had it in your baby room. But, you always cried when you saw it and we decided you were afraid it. I guess Bearbear looked pretty tattered by that time. We put it away and it must be in some box. But, I can’t think of where it is right now. We will look for it when we go home, would you like to help me?”  
Sam’s mother grew quiet and he stood next to her in silence as she sipped her tea. All too quickly it was time for her to go back to the hospital. His aunt said she would drive her there and she would bring Missy home as well. After they left, Sam with his grandmother’s permission, even though it was late, went outside and sat on the front door stoop. He wondered if he had the right clues for the Baroness and he was more than a bit worried that Missy may have broken the light.  
Sam stepped out onto the walk until he was halfway between house and street. To the east the horizon glowed yellow white from the city. High above him was the moon a little more than halfway full, it glowed brightly among the stars in a clear sky. Sam looked around hoping to catch a glimpse of Greene’s motorcycle. But the only thing he saw moving through the heavens was the flashing red lights of an airplane. Sam unclipped the flashlight and held it over his head. As he did, he slid the switch forward with his thumb. Nothing happened. He flicked the switch again and again. Still nothing happened. He tapped the light against his palm and tried again. Again nothing happened.  
I’m sure you remember what the Baroness said about the switch. It took Sam three tries before he remembered the button. He examined the light and found a rounded brass knob in front of the switch. He pressed it as he slid the switch forward. The light’s thick glass lens glowed in a feeble honey color barely bright enough to see. With hope somehow that dim light was bright enough call Greene’s attention Sam pointed the lens straight up.  
The glow became a rod of bright yellow light which shot into the darkness. Within a few moments Sam heard a rumbling motor cycle. Its headlight suddenly appeared from down the street. Unlike any other motorcycle or car’s light it flew just above the tree tops. The motorcycle with Greene driving pulled up and in the sidecar hanging on to her hat sat the Baroness with Rex who had been draping his head over the side, mouth open and tongue licking the air.  
“I have a clue.” Sam shouted as he ran towards them. The Baroness and Rex made room for him in the sidecar just as his grandmother opened the door.  
“Don’t Worry Gran, I’ll be back!” Sam yelled over the engine’s roar.


	7. Northwest

Just imagine how Sam’s grandmother felt as the motorcycle and sidecar rise straight up into the night.  
As soon as Sam climbed aboard, Rex leapt over him sticking his nose over the sidecar’s edge, his wagging tail slapping Sam in the rib. Wind wrapped around Sam. The homes and trees and streets of his grandmother’s neighborhood shrunk until they joined a sprawling carpet of tiny lights connected by threads of traffic. Towards the east flashing beacons on Boston’s towers lined the black harbor under a bright moon and in the west the carpet mixed with black and unraveled it stretched to the dark horizon. Sam sat next to the Baroness who was so small she had to sit on the seat’s edge to bend her knees. She changed her clothes for the trip wearing a buttoned up dark jacket and a matching skirt that was so long only the toes of her shiny black shoes peeked out. The Baroness turned to Sam as she gripped the curved brim of a short black top hat, the same kind of hat Steampunk cosplayers wear, to avoid it from being knocked off in the breeze.  
“Baroness, my mother said we had Bearbear when I was a baby at my old house and she said it is in a box someplace. I didn’t ask her where…I’m sorry.”  
“You found a great clue Sam. We know we have to start our search at your old house.”  
“That’s way too far away, I lived in Portland Oregon.”  
“Kid, don’t forget, you are with a witch,” interrupted Greene, “do you remember where you used to live?” Sam quickly replied with the address of his old home.  
“Next stop Portland.” Greene called out revving the engine. Sam gripped his seat expecting the sudden acceleration while Rex happily shouted much fun he was having on the ride. But, they did not go any faster. Instead the lights far below shifted from a jumble array of streets separated by the long narrow ‘Mass Pike’ into the Portland’s rectangular street pattern where a faint orange glow still painted the western horizon.  
“We’re too high up, how can we find the street I lived on?” Sam asked worriedly.  
“Kid, I don’t need a street address. Tell me about your old house and we’ll get there soon enough.”  
Sam squeezed his eyes shut trying to describe his old home.  
“I don’t know if I can do it,” Sam said nervously.  
“Sam, start with what you remember best, the rest will come,” the Baroness replied reassuringly, “what is the first thing about your old house you see in your memory?”  
“The bay window and the white front porch. The house was painted a light blue color and there were bushes next to the driveway that I used to peek under. I remember the roof sloped to front and the windows on the second floor in my parent’s room…they faced the street and I used to watch the big kids, our neighbors walk past going to school and I would call their names.”  
The motorcycle landed with a thump on an otherwise deserted street and rolled to a stop in front of Sam’s old home.  
“How are we going to get in?” Sam asked, “The new owners won’t let me walk in and search and what if we didn’t leave it here or what if they threw it out?”  
“We will have answers to those questions soon enough Sam. Here take this.” The Baroness leaned forward and from a cloth bag on the sidecar’s floor took out a compass. It was the kind of compass used for ‘Orienteering’, a sport where people use compass and map to follow a course of checkpoints in woods with the person completing the course in the fastest time being the winner. Sam looked at the compass, it was silver with numbers around its dial and mounted on a flat clear plastic base with an arrow at one end.  
“This will help us find your father’s Teddy Bear. The needle points north, except when you think about the bear in a place it has been or is.”  
“Like my bedroom.” Sam added.  
“Yes, when you focus on the bear, the compass’ needle will point to bear’s location. Then you can turn the compass’ dial so the base’s arrow matches where the needle is pointing. When the needle swings back north, we’ll know which way to go.”  
“But, how will we get in my old room?”  
“Leave that to Rex,” the Baroness replied.  
“Oh sure, I get to do a dog’s work,” Rex grumbled as he jumped out of the sidecar and trotted up to the house’s front porch.  
“Now here comes the fun stuff kid.” Greene said with a broad laugh.  
Rex scratched the front door and made a whimpering, whining noise. After a moment or two a lanky teenager appeared.  
“Who is it?” asked a woman from inside the house.  
“Some dog…” The teen didn’t finish his sentence.  
“Ok Kid, you and the Baroness hightail it inside. I can’t hold ‘em long and things will get weird if someone else shows up.”  
Sam wanted to ask what happened. But, he was in a hurry and he followed the Baroness out of the sidecar and up the walk passing Rex going the other way.  
“Ok Sam, do your stuff and if you want me, I’m hanging with the witch.” Rex said as he trotted by.  
The house’s front door was halfway open and Sam following the Baroness had to duck under the teen’s outstretched arm although she strode in without even removing her hat. Once inside the Baroness invited him to lead the way. The living room was familiar but strange at the same time. The furniture was of course all different and its walls had been repainted. But sadly for Sam, the new owners put in a giant flat screen where the built-in bookcase used to be. There was a car commercial on the TV which had frozen and sitting on the living room couch a woman holding a glass of something been paused as her head was turned over her shoulder towards the front door. Sam climbed the steps to the second floor two at a time. The bathroom door at the top was cracked open and he saw steam from the shower had been turned into swirling strands of cotton candy. To the right was his parent’s old bedroom and to left was his room, its door was closed and tacked on it was a cardboard note warning people to ‘keep out’.  
If you ever wondered whether you could move something or open a door when time has stopped, the answer is yes. Sam turned the door knob and pushed the door to his old room inwards. They walked in. The room had been repainted too. The walls were no longer straw colored with red and blue stencils of bears and balloons his mother painted just before Sam was born. Instead the room was a dark blue and covered with posters from movies and of buxom women with cars. His bureau was replaced by a messy cluttered desk and shelves bolted to the wall with action figures. The clothes were piled about on the floor and the bed was unmade. Sam wrinkled his nose at the strong odor of sweat.  
“Do I use the compass now?”  
“Yes, Sam. Hold it in the palm of your hand and think about your father’s teddy bear as you look at the needle.”  
Sam did as the Baroness instructed. He imagined his father’s Teddy Bear and the needle started to spin. Suddenly he saw the bear sitting on his bureau in his imagination.  
“I can’t do it” Sam almost screamed. The image was terrifying. The menacing teddy bear with its half worn off fur, missing eye and head twisted to one side reached from his memory. Sam shuddered and dropped the compass thinking of the bear sitting on his bureau and waiting for him to fall asleep.  
“It’s ok Sam, nothing can hurt you,” reassured the Baroness. She picked up the compass and placed it in his trembling palm with one tiny white gloved hand while holding his hand steady with the other.  
“Now I know why your feelings for the bear are so strong. You were terrified.”  
“I’m scared to see that bear again. I know it can’t hurt me. But…” Sam felt a cold shiver in his back.  
“Fear is a strong emotion. Take a slow breath and imagine Bearbear the way you saw it in the picture with your father. Think of the joy in your father’s smile and your love for him. It will remind you of the strength you have to make fear disappear.”  
Sam took in a slow breath and counted as he let it out.  
“One, two, three” he looked down at the compass in his palm. He thought of the picture of his father hugging Bearbear while it was new and not misshapen, of his father’s broad grin and beaming face. He again saw the image of the bear on his bureau. But, it wasn’t horrifying, it was what it once was a well-loved stuffed animal that showed its age. The compass needled slowly moved from north to northwest. When it stopped moving Sam twisted the dial so the arrow on the compasses’ base lined up with the needle.  
“I was afraid of the bear. I must have been very little, that’s why my mother and father put it away and why I don’t remember it,” Sam said, “what do we do now?”  
“Now as Greene would say, comes the fun part Sam,” the Baroness replied.  
The Baroness told Sam once they were in the air that he needed to keep thinking of the bear and holding the compass palm of his hand, when they get closer to the bear the needle will start to spin again. It didn’t take long for Sam to tell Greene they were near the bear and the witch started their descent. The motorcycle landed among row after row of metal storage units with roll up doors.  
“The compass needle keeps turning” Sam said.  
“That’s because of all the metal, we should have brought dowsing sticks.” Greene remarked.  
“Who said I didn’t” answered the Baroness and she pulled out from her bag two “L” shaped copper rods. She told Sam to loosely hold the rods in each hand and to think of his father and the bear. The rod in his left hand immediately turned outwards even though he did nothing to make it move.  
“We go left” Rex announced.  
“Ok pup.” Greene slowly motored them to the end of the row they were in and turned left.  
“Ok Greene, now right,” the dog added as he watched the rods, “now keep going straight.” The motorcycle cruised along until both rods twisted to the left.  
“We’re here,” called Rex.  
They stopped under a bright street lamp in front of an anonymous storage unit. Sam, the Baroness, Rex and Greene dismounted and stood in front of its locked door. Before Sam could ask how they would open the door, Greene pulled on the padlock and it snapped open as if there was a key.  
“Don’t forget you are with a witch” Greene said pulling up the door and producing a bright flashlight. The lit unit was almost completely filled with stacked storage tubs and cardboard cartons.  
“Rex, can you use your nose to find the bear?” asked the Baroness.  
“Shouldn’t be too hard.”  
Rex leapt inside and climbed about, his nose down. As he sniffed, he asked for containers to be moved out of the way.  
“Try this one.”  
Greene pulled a well taped cardboard box out from under Rex’s nose and pulled off its tape flipping open the folded top. It was filled with Sam’s baby clothes.  
“Swing again puppy.” Greene remarked.  
“I don’t see you crawling about in here. Why not use some your magic? Wait a minute, this one is promising.”  
“Better not be a false alarm. We can’t be here all night. These places have silent alarms and I’m sure company is on its way.” Greene opened the second box and once again it contained folded baby clothes. But, Sam had a hunch. He burrowed down into the box and successfully found Bearbear. Congratulations were quick and once the unit was closed and relocked the motorcycle was once again airborne.  
“Thank you Baroness”  
Sam hugged the cat feeling her purr deep inside.  
“Thank you Sam, finding things is what we do and I am glad we could help you find your father’s bear.”  
They returned to Sam’s grandmother who was still sitting anxiously on her front doorstep looking into the sky and waiting. That is how I’m going to end this story.  
I can say Sam’s grandmother had the ride of her life on a flying motorcycle’s sidecar. But I can say that Sam and grandmother suddenly appeared in his father’s room with Bearbear. But the story of what happens after that is one for another time. I can say whenever Sm visited his grandmother for school vacations, they’d go to a restaurant across from the Granary Burial Grounds not far from the Boston Common and while his grandmother enjoyed Tony’s specials, Sam ate his favorite pumpkin pancakes with hot chocolate and he doesn’t stare


End file.
